Since ancient times, women have decorated their finger nails by applying colored polishes. These polishes, when hardened, gave the finger nails a decorative and appealing appearance. Traditionally, these polishes were available in a few colors which were applied to the finger nails as smooth uniform coatings. A variety of brushes and foam applicators have been used to apply these nail polishes to finger nails. These applicators generally consisted of small bristled brushes having substantially uniform bristles. These applicators were specifically designed to apply the nail polish as uniformly as possible to create a smooth and uniform coating. The end result was a finger nail having a reflective uniform color.
As women's fashions changed, so have attitudes concerning the decorating of finger nails. Nail polishes are now available in a great variety of colors and textures. Fanciful nail decorations have also become very popular. Fingernails have been decorated by uniformly spreading colored coatings over the surface of nails. Conventionally, fingernail polish brushes are mounted in bottle caps, and bristles are held suspended in the coating material.
Applicators constructed integrally with bottle caps are widely known. Examples are brush type applicators mounted in caps such as used in paste jars and in nail polish vials. Glass rod type applicators with enlarged fire polished ends are also known to be mounted in bottle caps. Examples of cap-mounted rod type applicators are found in antiseptic bottles and in perfume vials. Glass rod applicators are intended to carry very small amounts of liquid from containers to body members and to disperse the small quantities of liquid over a general area in an uncontrolled manner. These applicators are often difficult to maneuver and may cause uneven or undesirable application of polish to the fingernails. This can be annoying and may require removal of misapplied polish. For this reason, some women would rather spend time and money for a professional to apply polish to their fingernails, especially if an intricate application is required. This can be wasteful of both time and money.
Furthermore, liquid fingernail polish and similar materials are necessarily of a nature such that they will quickly dry and harden upon any prolonged exposure to the atmosphere. Such materials are conventionally applied, however, by means of a brush element which is either dipped into a separate container of polish as required or has associated therewith some sort of reservoir for the more or less continuous supply of polish to the brush element during use. In either case, it has long presented a problem when the polish material hardens upon the brush during periods between use. Therefore, there is a need for a device which overcomes the problems associated with the hardening of nail polish on a brush.
Furthermore, with bottle containers having brush applicators, the only way a person can apply nail polish is by putting the nail polish container on a sturdy base such as a table. The user will need to unscrew the cap, use the brush to apply the polish, and continuously re-dip to apply to the other nails. This is not convenient or practical when most people do their nails or their daughter's nails in bed, on the sofa, or on the floor. Even when the surface is flat, the likelihood and incidence that the bottle will tip over and nail polish will be spilled is very high.
Furthermore, although most of the innovation in nail polish concerns additives designed to enhance the luster, color, texture and stability of nail polishes, relatively little attention has been devoted toward improved packaging and application methods. Given this lack of attention, the need for certain new and useful improvements directed toward nail color packaging and application methods is evident.
Accordingly, there is a need for a new and improved system for applying color to a surface of a nail. Still further, exposure to heat or the like or due to simple age, the color of fingernail polish may change. This can be very disconcerting if a user believes she is using one color of polish and the actual color is different due to the just-mentioned causes. The polish may have to be removed, which can be very annoying, especially if time is a consideration. Therefore, there is a need for a fingernail polish container which permits a user to be sure of the color of the polish that will be applied before application.